e-auction of human hair offered by lakhs of devotees to the Lord Venkateswara at Tirupati, is expected to rake in a whopping Rs 179 crore for the fiscal 2011-12 to the Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanam (TTD).
The public sector MSTC Ltd. is managing the electronic trading platform for the TTD. The Devasthanam has projected revenues of Rs 145 crore for fiscal 2012-13 from sale of hair.
It is estimated that close to 500 tonnes of hair, offered by lakhs of devotees annually poses a gigantic task to dispose off. There is a good market and the hair is bought by locals, who also export it. Hundi collections (Rs 731 crore), sale of human hair (Rs 179 crore), interest on investments (FDRs) (Rs 405 crore), sale of
Pilgrims, no rate hike
For the millions of devotees the good new is that there will be no increase in rates at all-pilgrim facility areas such as darshan, seva tickets, prasadam, toll gate, reception etc. The Devasthanam has also allocated Rs 58.43 crore on pilgrim sanitation on the Tirumala hills.
Giving details, the Executive Officer, Mr L.V. Subramanyam, said the interest on investments for the current fiscal was Rs 405.23 crore and is expected to rise to Rs 475 crore (2012-13). The biggest revenues come from Kanuka (donations from devotees), which stood at Rs 731 crore and expected to grow to Rs 800 crore next fiscal.
The salary and wage bill of TTD is Rs 300 crore, while the expenditure on procuring ingredients that go into making the famous Tirupati laddus and vadas is Rs 180.98 crore.